


Restless, Clear Night

by BottledUpWishes



Category: Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 13:36:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8580559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BottledUpWishes/pseuds/BottledUpWishes
Summary: Konzen gets Goku his own bed.  If it weren't for the shackles and chains on his wrists, ankles, and throat, having a bed for the first time in his life might have been less bittersweet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm convulsing. Please protect Son Goku. He deserves the fucking world.

 

After the, what, fourth or fifth day, Konzen finally caved and got the irritating monkey his own bed.  It wasn’t anything fancy, just your run-of-the-mill mattress, blankets, and pillow, but even that should be enough to satisfy the brat. And  _ more importantly _ keep him out of Konzen’s hair when he tried to get some damn sleep only to be woken up by a verbal monkey with shackles the weight of the world jumping onto his stomach.

 

The bed lay to the left of Konzen’s larger, wider bed, near the window and a few feet in front of his dresser.  Right now, it was pitch black outside, and he doubted the day time would disturb the brat much in his sleep, but Konzen kept the possibility of needing curtains in mind.  Still, he doubted the brat would notice, let alone care.

 

Peering from behind him, Goku’s wide gold eyes fixated on the small bed.  “That’s mine?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Goku stayed still, right next to Konzen.

 

“What’s with the stupid look on your face?” Konzen crossed his arms.  “It was troublesome enough getting those pricks to get  bed that simple  i don’t have the patience to debate getting something fancier.”

 

“No, I like it a lot, Konzen!”  Goku scurried into the room, his shackles jangling with even the slightest movement. He ran to his bed, running his hands over the blankets.  “I just didn’t expect ya t’ get it!”

 

Konzen rose an eyebrow.  “Why?  When I asked what the deal was with jumping onto me in the middle of the night, you said it was because you wanted to be comfortable.”

 

“Yeah but, this isn’t what I had in mind!”

 

What  _ else  _ would he have in mind other than a bed?  There wasn’t any room to support extra structures for his own room - not that Konzen would dedicate that much time to one comment - so a bed shouldn’t have been a surprise.  Yet there Goku stood, beaming almost as brightly as when he received a name.  That smile had been blinding.  This one Konzen could at least bare.

 

After Goku stared at the bed for an eternity and a half, he finally looked back to Konzen. “So, it’s mine, right?  I can use n’ stuff?”

 

“That’s kinda the point.”

 

“Wahoo!”  Goku shot up, and the bed more than creaked when he started jumping all over it.  Maybe it was his strength, but he still managed to almost hit the ceiling when those shackles should’ve anchored to the floor.

 

They are playing a dangerous game having a full-blown monkey jump on the bed.

 

Rubbing the back of his head, Konzen sighed.  “Knock it off.  You’ll break it or yourself.”

 

Jumping in a circle, Goku spun to Konzen.  “Huh?”

 

Like clockwork, he jumped too close to the edge and slipped.  Konzen moved to catch him as a purely knee-jerk reaction, but stopped short, knowing Goku would just fall onto his bed and not the floor.  The monkey would get a good spook out of almost falling and learn his lesson.  Nothing ventured, nothing gain.

 

Crack.

 

The man and monkey stared at each other for the longest time before Konzen dragged a hand down his face.  Although Goku was unharmed, Konzen’s bed did not survive the impact.

 

The emotion Konzen felt did not exist.

 

“Uh…”  Goku looked around, the bed caving in where he landed.  “Sorry.”

 

“You stupid-!”  Konzen stomped for him, ready to give the little imp a piece of his damn mind.  “I told you not to-”

 

He stopped, accidently locking eyes with Goku, who looked nothing beyond a kicked puppy.

 

That stupid, dumbfounded look drained Konzen instantly.  He lowered his fist to his side.  Confused, Goku gawked at him, but soon jumped onto his bed, and it went miraculously unharmed.

 

“Um…” He looked down, eyes shut tight.  “I’m really sorry, Konzen!”

 

_ It’s too late for this. _

 

Konzen tugged his hair tie out, his golden hair draping his frame.  “Whatever.  It’s nothing that can’t be fixed later.  Just go to bed already.”  He dropped onto his bed, hands beneath his head and eyes closed.  He took the time to breath slowly and deeply, putting all attention on lowering his constantly skyrocketing blood pressure.

 

For a few minutes, it worked, but he kept hearing the occasional shake of chains.  Opening one eye, he spotted Goku fussing with his shackles.  Every so often, Konzen caught him trying to rotate or adjust the shackles, but they never budged, and instead Goku just irritated the skin beneath and around them.

 

“What have I told you about doing that?”   
  
Goku froze, planting his hands to his sides.  “Not to do it… but, Konzen, they hurt!”

 

“Messing with them will make it worse.”  Konzen stared at the ceiling, acutely, painfully aware Goku watched him with those unblinking gold eyes of his.  “What’s the problem?”

 

“Nothing!  I’m just… not used to a bed, y’know?”

 

Konzen turned his head to Goku, who thrust the blanket over his whole body and curled himself up into a tight ball.  “You don’t like the bed or something?”   
  
“I like it!” he protested, “I just gotta get used to it.”

 

_ Why is he like this. _

 

He sucked ass at lying, especially when frustrated like the child he was.  But fitting of that, he was also stubborn as hell.  Konzen had to think of a way to make him get over whatever moody slump he was in.  He heard Goku mess with his shackles, but this time didn’t scold him.

  
  
Goku didn’t respond.  Instead, he sat up, the blanket wrapped all around his head and body.  He looked more like a bagworm than anything, not to mention smaller.  He wore an expression Konzen couldn’t recognise as his usual energy or curiosity.  It seemed farther off, and yet dug straight into Konzen’s skin like fire.

 

“Goku?”

 

Hearing his name brought him back to the present.  He blinked, laying back down without saying anything, his back to Konzen.

 

Heaven’s administrator wasn’t an expert on oody chimps, but he had this inkling Goku was sulking over something.  Then again, he mentioned never using a bed before.  It was possible he just felt weirded out by it.

 

Possible, but, somehow, not likely.

 

“Half the night.”

 

Konzen made his decision, not waiting for Goku’s reaction.

 

“Try the new bed out for at least half the night. If you really don’t like it, you can crash here. But don’t even think about jumping onto me, ya got it?”

 

As expected, Goku didn’t say anything, and instead tugged the blankets closer to him.  Snorting through his nose, Konzen finally tried a go at getting some well-deserved rest.

 

Well into the night, the exaggerated creaking of Konzen’s bed woke him up.  Sliding next to him, paying close attention to not jump onto the bed, was Goku, still completely ensnared by his blanket.  Wearing a pout, Goku must not have noticed that Konzen woke up.  He pulled more of the blanket around him, his wrist briefly isible.  Even in this darkness, Konzen saw his wrist red from being messed with.  If he kept that up, the area would get rubbed raw.  Konzen felt the weight of the shackles just by looking at them, he couldn’t imagine stuck with them. 

 

Right.  The monkey lived his life naturally in the Lower World until chains and a Limiter suddenly clamped him shut in Heaven.  As carefree and awestruck as he acted, it was still nothing unlike tugging a newborn kitten from its mother’s warmth and stuffing it in a cage.  When it came down to it, Heaven did him little favour.

 

Half-asleep, Konzen didn’t think anything of patting Goku’s head.  “What you meant to say was they you wanted to be comforted, not comfortable.”  He resisted the urge to yawn, and felt Goku pressed his face against Konzen’s chest with an affirmative nod, the diadem digging into his bones.  He heard a sniffle, as well.

 

“They hurt a lot.”

 

“Proper bedding will help alleviate it,” Konzen assured.

 

Like any other child with a stuffed animal, Goku clung to chunks of Konzen’s hair.  “Really?”

 

The man nodded.  

 

“That’s the point of a bed.”

 

***

 

In the temple, Goku  sat on a window sill, taking in the crisp night air.  It wasn’t that he couldn’t sleep, but every so often, he liked to go to the window and kick back and relax.  The best times were when the night sky was unobstructed by clouds and the moon was bright and full.

 

He heard footsteps, half-expecting one of those mossback monks to scold and yell at him, but, instead, spotted Sanzo.

 

“You’re up late.”

 

Sanzo glanced at him, wearing his usual frown.  “Look who’s talking.  What happened to locking yourself up in your room from the monks?”

 

“Hey, I haven’t done that in ages!”  Goku spun around, still sitting on the window sill.  “It’s nice out, and my window in the room doesn’t get as good a view, y’know?”

 

Raising his brow, Sanzo crossed his arms.  “What are you?  A tanuki?”

 

Goku huffed.  “Very funny.

 

Looking outside, Sanzo nodded.  “I thought as much.”

 

“Didn’t you ever stare at the moon or somethin’ when you were younger?”  

 

For a moment, Sanzo actually considered his question.  “I found myself more focused on leaves in autumn.  Only if there weren’t any clouds, though.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

“No reason in particular.”

 

“What a crappy answer.”  Goku shook his head.  “N’ here I thought you were finally gonna actually hold a conversa-”

 

Sanzo didn’t even have to pull his gun out, the sharp stare from his violet eyes shut Goku up just as well.

 

“Seems the moon makes monkeys dumber than usual.”

 

Goku shrugged.  “N’ your hair n’ temper are as scaldin’ as th’ sun.”

 

A distinct, metallic  _ click _ .  “Wanna die and see another sorta light?”

 

Alarmed, Goku leaned backward too far, falling flat on his ass out the window.  He shot right back up, still outside.  “I was just jokin’!”  

 

“I  _ will  _ put you back in the shed.”

 

He was definitely bluffing!  He knew Goku couldn't be trusted unsupervised like that with the peach trees right next to him.

 

“Go to bed or somethin’, you’re grouchier than usual!”

 

“I was just fine till you opened your big mouth.”

 

“I just wanna enjoy the air, dammit!  In the cave, it got super quiet at night, but, out here, there’re crickets n’ birds n’ stuff.  It’s nice.  And… I dunno how, but...”  He reached his hand out, making it cover the moon with a sudden smile.  “It brings back good memories.  Or… I  _ think  _ it would.”

 

“Hmph.”  Sanzo lit a cigarette, walking past Goku and leaving him to his own devices.  “You don’t make any damn sense on a good day.”

 

Hearing his footsteps get fainter, Goku agreed.  He thought it would bring back good memories, if he had any to recall, but that didn’t stop him from thinking that night air wasn’t that bad.  If he were entirely honest, though, the feelings it brought were... mixed.  somewhere between peaceful, assuring, firm, and restless.

 

He closed his fist around the moon.

 

_ It must've... been somethin' really important. _


End file.
